


Ordinary Contract Work

by StudentOfEtherium



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), F/F, Gay, Music, POV First Person, way too many niche music references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25656046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudentOfEtherium/pseuds/StudentOfEtherium
Summary: Mahiru's been hired for a job, but she didn't realize Ibuki would be quite so... Ibuki.
Relationships: Koizumi Mahiru/Mioda Ibuki
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is "loosely" based on a 2018 Vice article about the hardcore punk band The Armed. it's one of my favorite pieces of music journalism and definitely worth a read
> 
> https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3kkea/getting-to-know-the-armed-the-most-unknowable-band-in-hardcore

I fidgeted as I sat waiting. I was supposed to be here for an appointment, but said appointment was intended to start fifteen minutes ago. I pulled out my phone and read over the email I'd gotten concerning this meeting. It was a pretty simple commission. A band new to the label was about to release their label debut and I was being called in to do photography. Nice and simple.

The door opened. A man in a black suit stepped out and called for me. “Ms. Koizumi?” I stood up and walked over. “Hi yes that's me.” He nodded. “Follow me.” He led me into the room. Sitting in one of the chairs near the desk was a member of the band I would be working for. Her outfit was fashion at least a decade out from whent was last popular. Her hair especially caught my attention, as it was dyed a variety of colors and had a pair of horn-esque hair buns. “Ms. Mioda, meet Ms. Koizumi. She's the one who will be doing the photography for your cover.” I waved. “Hiii.” She nodded at me. Picking up on the tone she was setting, I sat down in the chair next to her and faced the desk. The man in the suit walked back to the desk and sat down across from us.

“The contract is pretty open. The band is free to help you figure out what you want the album to be. Of course, the label has final say in it, but we like to give our artists freedom in how they express themselves.” At that, Ms. Mioda sneered. The man continued, ignoring her. “I don't care if you want to be Vaughan Oliver or recreate Meet the Beatles as long as you think it fits the music and the band.” I nodded and grabbed a small notebook from my bag. I wrote down a few notes. “Now obviously, having seen your portfolio, I know your specialty, but don't hesitate to go out of your comfort zone.” I nodded and wrote down a few more notes. “I'd ask Ms. Mioda to say a few words here, but she seems intent on not talking to me, so you'll have to get any information out of her once you leave.” I nodded. The man clapped once. “I think that's it, though. The album doesn't come out for until the next quarter, but because of manufacturing we like to have it ready for release early. The formats our label releases in are digital, vinyl, CD, and cassette, so keep that in mind.” Ms. Mioda coughed once and the man sighed deeply. “Right, and as per the band's contract, this album will also be released on phonographic cylinder.” He gestured to me. “Any questions?” I shook my head. “I should be fine. Any questions that come up, I'll email you about.” The man gave me a thumbs up. I gathered my things and left, waiving as I left. Ms. Mioda followed me as I left.

Once we were out of the room, her mood immediately improved. “Hiiiyah! Ibuki is Ibuki's name! Feel free to call her that.” She grabbed my hand and shook it. Still holding my hand, she dragged me out of the building. She only stopped once we were at a large van parked outside in the parking lot. “Did you drive here?” I shook my head. “Great! We'll take you back to our house, then.” She opened the back of the van and we stepped in.

As I found a seat, I noticed there was already somebody sitting in the driver's seat. For some reason, they were wearing a ghillie suit. I couldn't make out a face or identity. As if noticing my confusion, Ibuki spoke up. “Oh that's Tetsuro. She doesn't usually play with us, but she does engineering sometimes.” That didn't help my confusion. “But isn't Tetsuro a-” Ibuki cut me off. “Anyway, Ibuki figured we'd let you stay with us while you're working on the cover, so you can get to know us. Unless you'd rather not.” I shook my head. “No, this arrangement is fine.” I thought about it a second longer. “Although I'll need to stop by my apartment later to pick up some things.” Ibuki nodded. “That's fine! Ibuki can drive you there later.”

The car started and we left. Ibuki took her phone out of her pocket and connected it to the speaker. “You have anything you want me to put on?” I shook my head. My music taste tended towards ambient works like Brian Eno or Aphex Twin, which didn't seem to fit the mood. Ibuki nodded and tapped away at her phone, trying to find an album. Seemingly having found it, she tapped play and I started hearing a sample that sounded like it was from an old American western film playing. “Give this one some time.” I nodded. Soon, music started playing, and as the second track started, I heard aggressive guitars and loud brass horns.

Ibuki started headbanging along. “This one's great. One of my favorite albums from this year.” I smiled and tried to take in the music. 

After a few minutes of listening to the music silently, I took out my notebook again and spoke up. “So, Ibuki… I haven't actually heard of your band before. Could you try describing them a little for me? I'm not super knowledgeable about music, but this will give me a place to start.” She looked to be in thought for a few seconds before responding. “We're kinda like Ulcerate by way of My Chemical Romance, filtered through the aesthetics of Enya.” I stared at her. I had no idea how serious she was being. I wrote down those names. I recognized two of them, and I'd look into the third later. “What's your band called, actually? I don't know if I ever caught that.” Ibuki laughed. “Oh that's really funny, actually. We release our music under the name Sex, Romance, and a Relaxing Day Away From It All, but when we do shows, it's under a variety of names. Last week it was Carnal Carnage, and for our show tomorrow Ibuki thinks we decided on Michio Kurihara.” I nodded. “I see. I suppose I should go see that show, then.” Ibuki clapped her hands. “Oh! Ibuki would love that!

We arrived at our destination as the album ended. Ibuki opened up the door we had entered from and we stepped out. We were in front of a two-story house. There were several cars parked around it. Ibuki walked towards the door and gestured to me. “C'mon Mahiru!” I followed her. As I did, I looked back, only to see the doors we had left from slam closed. Apparently Tetsuro would be staying in the van.

We stepped inside, and as we did, I saw a number of young women lounging around. The youngest seemed to still be in high school, while the oldest seemed to be in their early 30s. A couple waved at me. I waved back. Ibuki pulled me through the front room towards the back of the house. We entered a small sitting room and sat down. I took out my notebook, ready to take more notes.

“So, Ibuki, what else can you tell me about your band? I assume those women in the front room were your bandmates?” Ibuki laughed. “Not at all! None of them currently play in the band.” I tilted my head, confused. As if to answer the question I didn't ask, she continued. “They all used to play bass with us. They either quit or got fired. They stick around cause we don't take back house keys once we've given them out.” Suddenly, her focus leapt away and she searched her pocket. “Speaking of, here's your house key!” She tossed it at me and I caught it in a sloppy catch. As quickly as the diversion came about, she returned to the previous topic. “We're very proud to be an all female band! Oh, except our drummer, Noboru. He replaced our original drummer, Kaori, but when he took over we kept the branding. To make up for it, he crossdresses during our shows.” I nodded. “Well, Ibuki, this all is very… Interesting.” She nodded excitedly. “Are any of your bandmates around?” She thought about it for a second. “Ibuki thinks most of them are still at their day jobs, unfortunately. You'll be able to meet them tomorrow at the show.” I nodded. A surprisingly mundane excuse in the midst of all this madness.

Ibuki stood up and stretched. “But enough sitting around!” We had been sitting for five minutes at the longest. “Ibuki wants to show you to your room!” She ran out of the room and I hurried to follow her. She walked to the second floor and up the stairs. There, she walked past a few doors before opening the door to a small room. Inside was a bed, as well as a nightstand and a dresser. It was a sparse room and I could tell it was unused. I glanced around. It was nondescript. I set my purse down on the bed and pulled out my notepad, before shoving it in my pocket, along with my pen. I followed her back out of the room and she showed me the rest of the house.


	2. Chapter 2

I was woken up early the next day by a cacophonous noise coming from downstairs. I debated staying in bed, but the noise proved to be too much for me. I got dressed, grabbed my camera, and headed downstairs. In the front room, things had been moved around and in the center there was a large empty space. Said space was now filled by the band. I figured they were practicing. Without disturbing them, I took a number of photos. As I did, I listened to their music. It was definitely eclectic enough to match the frontwoman’s eccentric nature. Once I was done getting the photos I wanted, I sat down on the stairs and watched.

Ibuki had let her hair down and was thrashing around their improvised performing space. Despite everything, she looked kinda cute. As the song finished, she looked up and our eyes met. “Oh, Mahiru!” She put down her guitar and ran up to me. “Sorry about that. Ibuki has plans today, so we wanted to get practice for tonight's show done early.” She passed me and walked back to her room. I followed her. “Oh, what are those plans? I suppose I should tag along.” Ibuki laughed. “Nah, Mahiru!  _ You _ are Ibuki's plans.” I nodded. “Ah. That makes sense.” She grabbed some things from her room and walked back into the hallway. “Ibuki was thinking she could drive you around town to places that tie into our band, for inspiration.” I nodded again. “Alright. I'm fine with that.” I quickly returned to my room and grabbed my purse before rejoining her in the hall. We walked downstairs and as we walked out the door, Ibuki waved goodbye to her bandmates.

We sat down in her car. She shrugged. “Ibuki doesn't really know where to start today.” She turned on the car. “But she has a few places she wants to visit, so let's just head to the closest and go from there.” She reached down and grabbed her phone, selecting some music to play. Upbeat, cheerful electronic rock started coming out of the speakers. It was a very different album than had been played yesterday in the van.

As I'd found out yesterday when we stopped by my apartment, Ibuki was a shockingly competent driver. Before long, she stopped in a parking lot and turned off the car. I looked around. It seemed to be a rather nondescript area. We got out and Ibuki started walking towards an alley a couple hundred feet away. After a couple seconds of hesitation, I followed her.

The alley in question was very narrow. We squeezed ourselves through for some while before Ibuki stopped and knocked on a large metal door. We waited and eventually the door opened. Inwards. It wouldn't fit opening outwards. Once we were inside, I stretched. The alley we had walked through had been cramped.

I took a look around. We were in a medium-sized room, mostly empty besides a stage on one side and a door on the other. I walked around as Ibuki started explaining. “We play this venue a lot. It's pretty cool.” She walked by and directed for me to follow her. We made our way to the stage and she directed me to sit down. The stage wasn't particularly tall, so my feet easily touched the ground. “Behind that curtain, there's a backroom for bands that aren't playing and stuff. I usually don't spend much time there because I prefer to watch the bands we're playing with.” I nodded. A surprisingly mundane detail. I looked around the venue and took some notes in my notebook. I also took some photos from the stage.

“Hey, Ibuki, do you think you could pose a little up there?” She looked excited. “Oh, definitely!” She made a variety of wild poses, which I captured on film. I gave her a thumbs up when I was done. I decided to explore the door opposite the stage. Opening it, I found myself in a small lobby with a desk and another door. I opened the other door and found myself in the parking lot again. I sighed. Deeply.

We left the venue and Ibuki drove us around to the next destination. That was how things continued for the rest of the day. We would drive somewhere, she would show it off to me, I would take photos, and then I would leave. Everything I heard about Ibuki's band made it sound more otherworldly and bizarre. If not for my firsthand experience around them, I wouldn't have believed any of it. As the sun started to set, Ibuki brought me to the venue the band would be playing at. It was a different one than earlier, a fair bit larger.

“Ibuki has to go now. She needs to prepare for the show.” I nodded as she walked away to the stage. Her band had brought their van with their instruments on their own. I walked around and eventually found myself a seat on a second floor in the back. Live music had never been an interest of mine, especially the sort of music played by Ibuki's band. The opening act was a duo comprised of two American men. Ibuki had told me about them on the way over. Apparently they're a big deal to people who like that sort of thing, but she was introduced to them by a three-piece metal band her group had opened with on a previous tour. I was unsure how to judge their music, so rather than get too caught up on that, I opted to try and get some photos of their performance. As they finished their set, I pulled out my notebook and jotted down some notes.

I started preparing myself for what would come next. I'd seen the band practice in the morning, but I had no doubt their music on stage would be something totally different. The band walked on stage to start setting up and I noticed something odd. There were more people than there had been earlier. I could see the guitarist from the opening act among them, as well as the drummer from morning practice, but I couldn't recognize anyone else. Who I didn't see was Ibuki. A person wearing a ghillie suit similar to the driver the previous day walked out carrying a second drum set and started setting it up next to the first drummer. The band finished their modifications to the stage and retreated backstage for a couple minutes.

Once the intermission was over, they came back out. The band seemed to be similar to before, except coming out from backstage last was… not Ibuki. It was a woman wearing a mask of Ibuki's face. I sighed.

I wasn't too surprised when I saw Ibuki walking up the stairs towards me. The band on stage had started introducing themselves. Ibuki sat down next to me. As if to answer the question I clearly had, she spoke up. “Ibuki loves watching bands play live, so being on stage would be such a waste!” I stared at her. “Ibuki does this often.” I continued staring at her. She laughed. 

The band started playing. Over the noise, Ibuki tried making small talk with me. I played along, while mostly focusing on taking pictures of the band on stage. Even if Ibuki herself wasn't playing, it still made for good shots. As the band started playing louder, Ibuki said something I couldn't hear. I tried getting her to repeat it, but it quickly proved to be an impossible task. I turned away, returning to my photography, when she tackled me. We fell down onto the cushion together. I gave her a slightly annoyed look. With the closer distance, I could hear her now. “After the show, do you want to continue this date somewhere else?” I sighed. I hadn't been aware she intended this as a date. I pried her off me and sat back up. I thought about it for a second, before nodding my head. Ibuki got an excited look on her face. I turned back to the stage for more photography, when I noticed there was a photo I hadn't intended to take there. When Ibuki tackled me, I had accidentally taken another picture. It was very blurry and had a lot of her hair flying into frame. Taking a mental note of it, I returned to taking photos of the band on stage as they began their last song for the night.

An hour later, the show was over. The encore had gracefully been a third as long as the closing number. Ibuki and I slipped out using a back exit and returned to her car. I groaned. “Sorry Ibuki, but this kind of thing really isn't for me. My ears are still ringing.” She laughed. “That's fine! They really went all out tonight. That closing number is usually only a couple minutes long.” I didn't respond, thinking back to things we'd talked about during the show. “What was that you said about a date?”


	3. Chapter 3

We spent the rest of the night together. Ibuki drove me around the city. At some point, we ended up near the ocean and at that point, we decided to stay there until we returned to the band house. We spent that time talking about meaningless and inane things. I also used that opportunity to look through my photos. Occasionally, I would stop and show Ibuki my favorites. As I started looking through the concert photos, I came across the blurry photo from when she tackled me. I stared at it for a bit. Ibuki glanced over at it and lit up. “Oh, I love that!” I passed the camera so she could see it closer. “At first, I was a little unhappy with it, because it's very poorly composed and…” I stopped. “I was unhappy with it because of professional photography concerns I doubt you care about, but it's sticking with me.” Ibuki nodded. “It's really good!” I laughed. “If nothing else, it suits you.”

Eventually, we returned back. By this point, I was tired enough that once I was in my room, I passed out right away. The following morning, I uploaded all the pictures I'd taken and started sorting them. I did this until I heard a knock on the door. A female voice I'd only overheard in conversations at the house spoke up. “Breakfast’s happening, if you care.” I quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. The kitchen was packed, as expected. I didn't see Ibuki anyway, so I just ate quickly and returned to my room. I finished looking through the photos I had taken so far and marked a few to share with the band later.

Eventually, Ibuki woke up and the day proceeded similarly to the day before. Unlike the day before, there wasn't a show that night, so instead we just drove around town again. At some point another member of the band joined us. I didn't mind.

I spent a few more days like that with the band, but soon my time with them was done. On my last day, I showed them the photos I'd taken. They unanimously agreed on the photo from the time Ibuki tackled me at the show. I told them I'd pass it off to the label's graphic designer and that was it. Ibuki drove me home and the job was done.

We had our second date a week later. A casual affair and certainly more lowkey than anything that happened in the time I spent with the band. She agreed to let me plan the date for her, so I kept it to a simple dinner. That's far more my speed. As we kept seeing each other, I naturally found myself spending more time with the band. Apparently my position no longer being a professional working with them meant they dropped their act somewhat. That didn't mean they stopped being weird or bizarre. It was a change in attitude, not behavior. Nonetheless, seeing these people act, for lack of a better word, normal was an interesting sight.

Three months after my time with the band was out. I hadn't actually heard it before, so Ibuki dragged me into her personal apartment to play it for me. She watched me excitedly the entire time. I didn't know what to make of it. She didn't seem to mind. “Critics have been very kind to it. It's been especially catching on in the US and online. One website called it Acid Mothers Temple for the Tiktok generation.” I nodded along. She knew I wouldn't get stuff like that. Despite her attempts, her music taste wasn't something I would take to. She was constantly mentioning bands and albums I'd never heard of. I sighed and leaned over to kiss her. Funny to think that in all the chaos and unpredictability around that band, that this was the part surprised me most. Not that I minded it to any degree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a neat shit imo and i kinda wish more people would write it. i had fun writing this, especially with all the music references i fit in and i wouldnt mind doing a sequel at some point
> 
> i have more details about the nature of Ibuki's band that didnt make it into the full fic, but i figure it's better to leave the ambiguity in because that's the whole point
> 
> also here's a list of all the references i included. there's some other loose concepts i pulled on, but these are the most direct ones i had in mind as i was writing this   
> 1\. Vaughan Oliver  
> 2\. Meet the Beatles  
> 3\. The Armed  
> 4\. The Vice article about The Armed  
> 5\. Yamantaka Eye  
> 6\. Brian Eno  
> 7\. Aphex Twin  
> 8\. Gray Matter - Climbing Out  
> 9\. Ulcerate  
> 10\. My Chemical Romance  
> 11\. Enya  
> 12\. Michio Kurihara  
> 13\. Melvins  
> 14\. The Slits   
> 15\. Hibike! Euphonium  
> 16\. Neko Hacker - s/t  
> 17\. Uniform  
> 18\. Boris  
> 19\. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard  
> 20\. King Crimson  
> 21\. jam bands as a general concept  
> 22\. Acid Mothers Temple


End file.
